Roy Wetton's memories of when he came to Castlethorpe as an evacuee during World War II

We (my grandmother and I) evacuated to Bucks at the outset of the blitz - I was 5 years old. We lived in a block of flats, 3rd floor in, Hackney East London. Almost every night we would hear the air raid warnings, and so collect a few bits and make our way to the shelter that was built under the flats. After the "all clear," back to our flat to look out the window to see all the fires near and distant and think we were lucky tonight.

On the day of our evacuation, I can remember a few families, including some relations, in a large van making our way to Hanslope. The first night we stayed in a type of barn, somewhere near the village centre - we slept on straw, as a young boy I thought this to be an adventure and having great fun, I don’t think the adults thought the same!

The following day we were billeted to a thatched cottage that I believe was in the High Street, it laid back from the road - there was a green in front and opposite, a grocery shop - it could have been a Co-op. We stayed with a Mr. Frost, he was known as 'Frostie'. Looking back now it was similar to a Dickens novel with a water pump over a butler sink, outside toilet (not nice in the winter, and sometimes worse in the summer if the waste had not been collected!) and candles to make our way up a narrow stairway to the bedrooms, but to me it all seemed fun.

Rear of house in Gold Street
Rear of house in Gold Street
The second house we stayed at was in Gold Street, I cannot remember the house number but going from Hanslope village you passed a school on the left, a little further the house, then on the right a Public House and bus stop, the lady of the properties name was Mary, she also had her son living with her. There was a vegetable garden and orchard, they also kept a large pig that sometimes I would ride on. Opposite there were fields where I would collect some of the largest mushrooms I had ever seen. In the kitchen they had half the side of a pig hanging so we never went short of bacon, in fact all the time I was evacuated I never went short of food - eggs, bacon, chicken, rabbits, fruit and veg were all to hand.


After the blitz we returned to London only to find we had been bombed out. The flats we lived in were named Coronation Avenue and, as previously mentioned, the shelters were built under the flats. On the tragic night of the bombing, a bomb made a direct hit on the centre of the flats, with debris falling on the entrance and exit of the shelter - the people were trapped, water and gas mains burst. Well over 100 people died on that tragic night, mostly through drowning. Had we not been evacuated we may have been among them! We were transferred to another flat.

The next time we were evacuated was during the time of the buzzbombs and rockets, this time to Castlethorpe where we stayed in stables that adjoined what I now know to be Langton House. A Mrs. Wigglesworth was the lady of the house at that time and she had two helpers, a man and wife, I think they 'lived in' - the man's name, I think, was Charlie. They kept chickens, rabbits, pigs and geese - again, never went short of food! Charlie would teach me how to catch wild rabbits and prepare chickens and rabbits for the table, I will not go into detail. I attended the local school that I believe had only one or two classrooms. I enjoyed my short time at that school although I seemed to be in quite a few scraps. Some of the other children thought I was running away from the bombs, I wouldn’t let that be said - but then they did not know what constant bombing was like!

One good Christmas for me was the school nativity play, I can remember it was a very severe winter and going to school the snow was up to my waist, the performance was good and I think everybody enjoyed it.

Roy with his cousin Maureen in the garden of the cottages at Bullington End
Roy with his cousin Maureen in the garden of the cottages at Bullington End






The next place we stayed at was in thatched cottages at Bullington End, that was an education for me - living in the East End of London, I had never seen a tractor, but the local farmer quite often would let me ride on the tractor while ploughing fields - just great, I thought, if only my mates in London could see me! There was a dairy farm nearby, and one of my errands was to go to the farm to collect jugs of milk, this to me was as much fun as playing in haystacks!

Roy with his uncle who was on leave from army
Roy with his uncle who was on leave from army


An exciting time for me was when my uncles, on leave from the army, used to visit. We would go to the Carrington Arms for a few drinks, I would be outside with a lemonade and arrowroot biscuit. Another time would be a weekly trip to Wolverton and then sometimes to Northampton.



These are some of my memories of Hanslope and Castlethorpe. When I retired, we moved to a small village in Hampshire, although living and working in London for most of my life, you could not get the country boy from me!